Ornamental finish and method of making the same



Jul .8, 1941? SMALL 5 ORNAMENTAL FINISH AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SA MEFiled March 16, 1939 Hakim/115ml! Patented July 8, 1941 UNITED STATESORNAMENTAL FINISH AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Frederick M. Small,York, Pa, assignor to Martin- Parry Corporation, York, Pa., acorporation of Delaware Application March 16, 1939, Serial N0. 262,276

9 Claims.

This invention relates to surface finishes and to a method of producingsaid finishes. More particularly, the invention relates to decorativeorornamental surface finishes which may be applied to any material whichis non-porous or to any porous material which has been renderednon-porous; and to a method for producing said finishes on suchmaterials.

The invention includes, as one of its novel features, a base coatingwhich may be applied directly to the surface of an article to befinished by spraying or otherwise, and which coating upon dryingprovides a rough or non-smooth surface which is eculiarly well adaptedto serve as a foundation for any decorative pattern with which it isdesired to ornament said article. More specifically, the base orfoundation coat is such that, upon drying, it takes the form of awrinkle coat that has been found to give depth to a decorative patternapplied thereon and to facilitate the production of a finish which veryclosely resembles the natural ap earance of the finish simulated.

The present invention is especially Well adapted for ornamentallydecorating sheet metal, and another of its important features is that itovercomes the objections inherent in sheet metal finishes presentlyknown, namely, that of emphasizin or magnifying slight defects orimperfections in the sheet metal due to dents, wavings,

bulges, etc., by what is commonly termed the high-lights. Heretofore,these high-lights have been sought to be eliminated by roughening thesurface of the sheet metal to thereby eliminate its smoothness and inthis way tend to coun- 3 teract reflection or high-lights. Theroughening has previously been accomplished by providing minuteindentations in the surface of the metal by hammering, sand blasting,pitting with acid,

etc. All of these known methods are objectionable from the standpoint ofeconomy, uniformity, and quality of the finish. The present invention isa great improvement over the above expedients in that it requires nospecial or costly treatment of the surface of the metal but merelyrequires the application of a coating to said metal which is of such anature that it inherently wrinkles and forms a rough coat upon which anydesired pattern or design may be applied.

It is, therefore, one of the principal objects of Another object of theinvention is to provide a decorative or ornamental finish which isofsuch a character as to give the appearance of depth and therebyprovide 'a more natural and less artificial looking product. v

Still another object of the invention is to provide a'base coat forornamentally'finishingbbjects and which coatis of such composition thatupon drying it will provide a rough or nonsmooth coating of such naturethat any' design or pattern, whether it simulate wood grain, inarble,Caen stone, travatine, fabric, plant life, etc., ap-- plied thereto,will result in a finish havinga depth and aspect closely resemblingthephys'ical I appearance of the simulated material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a relatively simplemethod for producing simulated ornamental finishes which provides depthand enables close and natural appearing duplication of any desiredpattern.v i

'A still further object of theinvention is to provide a new and noveldecorated article of manufacture.

Other objects andjfeaturesof the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the. art from the following description taken. in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an article processedaccording to the present inven'-' tion; and

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 22 of Figure 1.

It will be understood that the thickness'of the various coatings shownin the drawing has been greatly exaggerated for illustrative purposesjIn said drawing, the invention isfshown applied to a body or strip ofsheet metal I. It will be understood, however, that the invention'is notlimited to ornamenting metal and that the same may also be practicedwithany suitable non-me tallic material.

Before any coating is applied toth e stripd, it is thoroughlycleansed'so that any paint applied thereto will closely adhere and bebonded to its surface. In one mode of carrying out the invention, aclean sheet of metal is provided with a priming coat 2 of any suitablenature This coating may be applied quickly by'dipping, and dried quicklyby baking. After the priming coat 2 is thoroughly dried, the wrinklebase coat 3, previously referred to; is next applied. The wrinkle coat 3may beconveni'ently applied by spraying or by any other suitable method.This wrinkle coat is preferably dried by baking, al though the same maybe allowed to dry' in the metal I.

air if desired. The composition of the wrinkle coat and the advantagesof drying the same by heating or baking at a high temperature will bepointed out more fully hereinafter.

After the wrinkle coat 3 has thoroughly dried, a coat of ground color 4is applied thereto preferably by spraying because this enables anoperator to more evenly apply the same to said rough wrinkle coat. Theground color coat 4 is selected in accordance with the background of thepattern or finish which it is desired to simulate and is preferablydried by baking.

The finish illustrated in the drawing is that of a wood grain and,therefore, in carrying out the illustrative process, a grain coat 5 isapplied to the ground color coat. The grain coat is of a color whichcorresponds to the wood finish being simulated. This coating ispreferably, although not necessarily, applied by a roller whichcompresses to some extent the ridges 6 of the wrinkle coat 3. Theseridges are shown in greatly exaggerated form in Figure 2. It will beunderstood, however, that the roller does not press so hard against thewrinkle coat as to completely compress the ridges 6 into the valleys 1therebetween and thereby nullify the purpose for which the wrinkle coatwas provided. Hence, even after application of the grain coat by aroller, the surface still remains rough compared to the original smoothsurface of the sheet of The grain coat may be dried in any suitablemanner.

.After the grain coat has dried, the same may be protected by spraying acoat of clear fiat nitro-cellulose lacquer 8 thereon. In certain casesit may be desirable to first apply a highlight coat 9 to the grain coatbefore applying the lacquer coat 8. This high-light coat may be appliedby a roller or by any other means so that the coloring thereof isproperly positioned relatively to the grain pattern previously applied.

In simulating a wood finish, as described above, the grain coat andhigh-light coat applied to the ridges and valleys 6 and 1, respectively,of the wrinkle coat, create an appearance of depth and to some extentreproduce the appearance of saw marks appearing in a board which has notbeen sufficiently planed or sanded to eliminate the fine fibers of thewood which have been raised by the saw. In addition, the use of severalcolors, to wit, the ground coat, grain coat, and high-light coat, inreproducing a grain further gives the effect of depth and a very naturaland pleasing appearance.

While the grain coat has been described as applied by a roller it willbe obvious that the same may be applied by any other suitable means. Itwill also be understood that all of the coats described need not be usedand that the priming coat, ground color coat and/or high-light coat maybe omitted if desirable in reproducing certain finishes.

In producing the wrinkle coat 3, it is advantageous to dry or bake thesame at an elevated temperature depending upon the nature of thematerial which is being ornamented. For example, in applyingornamentation to a metal, a temperature up to 450 F. may beadvantageously used. On the other hand, the treatment of wood, stone,composition wall board, etc. will re quire a very much lowertemperature, approximately 100 to 150 F. The period of baking of sheetmetal to dry the wrinkle coat will, of course, depend upon thetemperature used. A period of approximately one hour is required to "andthickfilms produce coarse wrinkles.

properly treat the wrinkle coat 3 at a temperature of 400 F. There is anadvantage in drying the wrinkle coat at elevated temperatures, namely,the accentuation of the wrinkling and a resulting harder finish.

The nature of the wrinkle coat 3 may be modified to suit the pattern ofthe material simulated by varying the nature of the ridges and valleysthereof. Thus, the thickness of the film of wrinkle coat applied willaffect the nature of the wrinkles. Thin films produce fine wrinkles Thewrinkling effect is attributable to the particular drying oil used inthe composition of the wrinkle material. The phenomenon of wrinklingappears to be due to the more rapid oxidation of the exposed surface ofthe film and to the slower oxidizing of the material beneath saidexposed surface; the exposed surface expanding laterally and the lessoxidized material below said surface flowing into the folds produced bythe expansion of said film. Whatever the explanation of the foregoingphenomenon may be, the general efiect produced is that of asurfacehaving ridges projecting thereover and running irregularlywithout any breaks in its surface.

The thickness of the film of wrinkle coat 3 applied may be readilyvaried by the type of spray nozzle which is used in applying the same. Aspray nozzle producing a coarse atomization will give a greaterdeposition of the wrinkle coat and consequently coarser wrinkles willresult. On the other hand, a spray nozzle which produces a relativelyfine atomization will result in a thinner film and finer wrinkles.

A typical formula for the wrinkle composition which may be used inpracticing this invention is as follows:

Modified phenolic resin such as amberol F7 (Resinous Products Co.)Pounds Raw China wood oil Gallons 20 Liquid cobalt drier do Mineralspirits do 12 Toluol do 16 In preparing the wrinkle coat, the amberoland oil are placed in a kettle and heated sufficiently to melt theamberol. When the melting is complete, the temperature is brought up to500 F. and maintained at said temperature for about seventeen minutes.The mixture is then water-checked to reduce its temperature to 400 F.,and while this lower temperature is being maintained the cobalt drierand mineral spirits are added. Toluol is next added in safe proportionsuntil the full amount required has been introduced. The mixture is thenmaintained under heat until it takes a body or assumes a viscosity suchas will run U-plus on a Gardner hold viscosity tube.

While the invention has been specifically described in connection withthe production of a wood grain on metal, and while a typical formula ofthe wrinkle material has been given, it will be understood that theinvention is not limited to practice of the formation of wood grain onmetal or any other material, and, further that the composition of thewrinkle material may be varied slightly from that set out herein andstill be satisfactory for use in making the ornamental article, and forcarrying out the process of producing the same defined in the annexedclaims.

Having described my'invention, I claim:

1. An article of manufacture having a simulated finish thereoncomprising a prime coat, a

wrinkle coat on said prime coat, a ground coat on said wrinkle coathaving the general color of the background of the pattern simulated anda pattern comprising one or more coats on said ground coat.

2. An article having a simulated wood finish thereon, comprising awrinkle coat, a ground coat on said wrinkle coat of the general color ofthe wood simulated, and a grain coat corresponding to the grain of saidwood applied on said ground coat.

3. An article having a simulated wood finish thereon, comprising awrinkle coat, a ground coat on said wrinkle coat of the general color ofthe wood simulated, a grain coat corresponding to the grain of saidwoo-d applied on said ground coat, and a protective transparent coat onsaid grain coat.

4. The method of producing an ornamental finish on an article whichcomprises applying to an article a coating of a composition which whendried thereon produces a wrinkled surface, and applying an ornamentalcoating in the form of a desired pattern to said wrinkled surface.

5. The method of producing an ornamental finish on an article whichcomprises applying to an article a coating of a composition which whendried thereon produces a wrinkled surface, baking the coated article todry said coating to produce said wrinkled surface, and applying anornamental coating of a desired pattern to said dried wrinkled surface.

6. The method of producing an ornamental finish on an article whichcomprises applying to an article a coating of a composition containing awrinkling oil which when dried produces a wrinkled surface, applying aground coat of the color of the background of the pattern to be imitatedon said wrinkled coat, and applying a design coat corresponding to saidpattern on said ground coat.

7. The method of producing an ornamental finish on an article whichcomprises applying to an article a coating of a composition containing awrinkling oil which when dried produces a wrinkled surface, applying aground coat of the color of the background of the pattern to be imitatedon said wrinkled coat, applying a design coat corresponding to saidpattern on said ground coat, and applying a protective coating to saiddesign coating.

8. The method of producing an imitation wood finish on an article whichcomprises applying a coat of wrinkling material to an article, applyinga ground coat of the general color of the wood to be imitated on saidwrinkling material and applying a grain coat simulating the pattern ofsaid wood on said ground coat.

9. The method of producing a simulated wood finish on an article whichcomprises applying a coat of wrinkling material to an article, applyinga ground coat of the general color of the wood simulated on said groundcoat, and rolling a grain coat on said ground coat with suflicientpressure to partially compress the ridges of said wrinkle coat.

FREDERICK M. SMALL.

